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Thursday, August 16
Wallace won last year's Pepsi 400
By Jerry Bonkowski
ESPN.com
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Short of throwing tacks under his tires, no one has figured out how to stop the Jeff Gordon Express.
The three-time Winston Cup champion appears on his way toward a fourth title. And at the pace he's going, Gordon won't have to wait until the traditional season-ending race at Atlanta to do so. Rather, if Gordon can somehow sustain his current run of good luck and continue to pull away from his closest challengers, he could conceivably have things wrapped by Talladega on Oct. 21 or Phoenix a week later.
|  | | Rusty Wallace hopes to celebrate his 45th birthday with another Pepsi 400 win. |
But even though Gordon is on a roll, that's not going to stop guys like Rusty Wallace and Ricky Rudd from going all-out to try and break Gordon's momentum.
Sunday's Pepsi 400 at Michigan International Speedway could do just that, but it's not going to be easy. Gordon won the Kmart 400 at MIS in June, dicing back and forth with Rudd in the last five laps before edging past him on the final spin around the two-mile superspeedway to take the checkered flag.
It was Gordon's second career victory at MIS (he also won the 1998 Pepsi 400), and set the stage for Gordon to reel off a streak that has seen him claim four wins, seven top-three finishes and one eighth-place showing in his last 10 starts.
Yes, those tacks are sounding better to the guys chasing him.
But ability and history are also strong elements used in fighting Gordon, and both Wallace and Rudd have that combination coming into Sunday's race. Wallace won the Pepsi 400 last year, while Rudd was runner-up to Gordon in June.
Fresh off his 45th birthday Tuesday, Wallace, who is currently ninth in the standings, is leaning on the past to help him with the future.
Wallace is the second-most successful active driver on the circuit at MIS with five career wins there. Bill Elliott is the winningest with seven, and hopes new chassis changes that go into effect this weekend for the Dodge could bring him his eighth win at MIS.
Wallace is also bringing out a secret weapon this weekend -- the infamous "Mad Max" incarnation of his No. 2 Ford. The car is the same one Wallace drove to victory in last year's Pepsi 400, and he hopes to repeat that feat Sunday.
"The car has been pretty incredible and has brought us a lot of success," Wallace said. "Through the years, it seems like we've always had one car that sort of sticks out from the others. It's a car that becomes 'old reliable' and a tried and true car you can always count on. This car is the latest one of those.
"We've had cars like 'Midnight,' 'Midnight Rider,' 'Captain,' 'Banker,' 'Killer' and several more that were work horses for us and gave us a ton of success. Well, 'Mad Max' is the latest in the line of that caliber of race car."
Ironically, just like Gordon's victory in June, Wallace's win in last year's Pepsi 400 came at Rudd's expense. Rudd was leading the race when Robby Gordon crashed on Lap 179 of the 200-lap event. When the green flag reappeared on Lap 183, Wallace wasted little time. He quickly jumped past Bobby Labonte to grab second, and then passed Rudd one lap later to take the lead for good, eventually finishing with nearly a three-second edge.
"The win last August at MIS definitely wasn't one of those 'I deals,' because it was a total team effort there that day," Wallace said. "We had a great car, the engine was super, the pit stops were lightning fast all day. It was just a total package deal. We dominated and had the best car for most of the day and it came home taking the checkered flag."
"Mad Max" has a successful pedigree. Not only did it finish second in last year's Brickyard 400 before heading to victory in Michigan, it also won earlier this year at California in April. In total, "Mad Max" has four top-five finishes (including a fourth-place finish two weeks ago in the Brickyard 400) and seven top-10s in 11 outings.
Ironically, the only poor showing "Max" had was at MIS in June, when Wallace crashed on Lap 23 after being clipped from behind by Todd Bodine. Although he eventually returned to the track after repairs, Wallace settled for a disappointing 41st-place finish, one he hopes to improve by about 40 places Sunday.
Rudd awakening
And then there's Rudd. Until Gordon eased by him to take the checkered flag at MIS in June, Rudd appeared ready to claim his first victory since 1998. As it turned out, that second-place finish was merely a prelude, setting the stage for the following week when Rudd finally crossed the finish line first at Pocono, Pa.
As disappointing as it was to him, Rudd's loss to Gordon at MIS two months ago also provided one of the most exciting finishes of the season.
But that was then. Rudd comes into Sunday's race in second in the standings, 194 points behind Gordon and 71 points ahead of third-place contender -- and teammate -- Dale Jarrett.
MIS has been almost as good to Rudd as it has to Wallace, just a little shorter on the victories. Rudd, driver of the No. 28 Ford, has one win (1993) and eight top-fives, including the aforementioned runner-up finishes in his last two starts there.
Despite Gordon's dominance in the last 10 races, Rudd has managed to keep pace with No. 24 with his own kind of roll. Starting with the Kmart 400, Rudd has six top-five finishes in his last nine starts. In that same nine-race stretch, he has been the most consistent qualifier on the circuit, with six starts of fourth or better.
"We were .006 seconds behind Gordon for the pole in June," said Rudd, who is tied with Gordon for most top-10 finishes of any drivers (15) this season. "I feel like the Texaco car can sit on the pole any given weekend with the right conditions and I'm looking forward to trying to sit on the pole this Friday.
Amazingly, Sunday will be Rudd's 50th career start at MIS. Elliott, preparing to make his 48th start there, is second.
"Gordon is so good right now that we are going to have to be flawless from here on out and hope for a little luck," Rudd said. "We should be really good going back to Michigan. We almost won there in June but Gordon was able to get the win on the last lap.
"I'm ready for some close competition this weekend, but I have confidence in our team. We've been close the past two races at Michigan and maybe this time we can close the deal."
And perhaps close in on Gordon a bit more at the same time.
Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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